Customer-centricity makes sense to drive sales

The one-size-fits-all approach to marketing messages has been substituted at UniCredit Bank Serbia by a customer-centric approach that doubled the number of products and services sold in its inaugural year.

Underpinned by analytics, the new approach helps the bank stay ahead in the highly competitive Serbian banking market. “We now have insight into how customers first interact with the bank, what the logical next-best offers should be and how to best retain customers moving forward,” explains Bojan Dimić, Head of Customer Relationship Management at UniCredit Bank Serbia.

We now have insight into how customers first interact with the bank, what the logical next-best offers should be and how to best retain customers moving forward.

Bojan Dimić
Head of Customer Relationship Management

UniCredit Bank Serbia sought to shift from a reactive to a proactive approach to marketing. Before adopting analytics, selection criteria was performed mainly on an eligibility basis (i.e., if eligible – then offer), resulting in large target group selections and a one-size-fits-all approach. One recurring commercial campaign was executed per month, and a lack of contact policy resulted in low accountability for campaign results and efficiency. This was one of the reasons why the bank was not in a position to boost cross-selling or to increase the usage of alternative interaction channels.

A unified view of the customer

With help from SAS Campaign Management and SAS Enterprise Miner, UniCredit Bank Serbia integrated eight sales channels – direct marketing, branch, contact center, ATM, SMS, email, e-bank and mobile banking – to get a complete picture of each customer. Dimić and three associates developed eight predictive models to understand customer needs and preferred channels of communication. The results were very impressive. In one year the bank:

Increased the number of campaigns by 65 percent.

Boosted client contacts by 71 percent.

Sold 53 percent more products.

Increased total assets by 46 percent.

Analytical models have helped the bank execute more than 125 new inbound and outbound campaigns per year. Campaign conversion rates have risen to 12 percent, and 30 percent of all product sales are attributed to the new campaigns. As a result, the CRM team is actively engaged in all retail sales planning aspects.

Dimić said the success was predicated not just on using analytics, but on rethinking the processes that the bank used. The team looked at customer life cycle and value, and gained insight into how customers first interact with the bank to the logical next offers to retention efforts. To gain internal client trust, the team used key performance indicators to measure the impact of CRM on overall sales.

The bank also took a test-and-learn approach. Dimić’s team simulates and measures business impacts of selected campaigns before sending them into production. Based on selected campaign KPIs, the results of the test group are measured, and the campaign is executed only if it meets expectations. Alternatively, campaign parameters (target group, communication channels, offer details, etc.) can be adjusted and improved to avoid unnecessary costs and/or irrelevant campaigns.

Another important step was to use control groups to help internal clients understand the CRM team’s value. “Some clients will buy the product in any case. By introducing control groups, we can filter this effect and show the real impact of analytics on campaigns and results,” Dimić says. “Average difference in profitability of clients contacted through campaigns over the control group is 16 percent.”

The bank can react to market changes, and quickly launch new campaigns to eligible clients. “To use an analogy, analytical capability is like driving a fast, new sports car compared to an antique car,” Dimić says. “There is a time and place to drive an antique, but it’s certainly not in today’s competitive market.”

Challenge

Solution

Benefits

The bank increased sales by 53 percent while increasing total assets by 46 percent – all in one year.

Campaign conversion rates have risen to 12 percent, and 30 percent of all product sales are attributed to the new campaigns.

The results illustrated in this article are specific to the particular situations, business models, data input, and computing environments described herein. Each SAS customer’s experience is unique based on business and technical variables and all statements must be considered non-typical. Actual savings, results, and performance characteristics will vary depending on individual customer configurations and conditions. SAS does not guarantee or represent that every customer will achieve similar results. The only warranties for SAS products and services are those that are set forth in the express warranty statements in the written agreement for such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. Customers have shared their successes with SAS as part of an agreed-upon contractual exchange or project success summarization following a successful implementation of SAS software. Brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies.